In the synthetic fibre industry many thousands of high speed spindles are utilized in synthetic yarn production. Because of the extremely high speeds at which the machines operate, the spindles and bearing assemblies must be able to withstand speeds in the order of 25,000 rpms. As a result, the life expectancy of the spindles is short, presently being in the order of three months to one year for continuous operation. Since hundreds of thousands of these units are in use, replacement costs are very significant indeed.
This problem is magnified by the fact that the entire spindle assembly must generally be discarded in favour of a new unit when bearing failure occurs. This has been brought about by the fact that the entire spindle unit is a sealed one and is not in the nature of a modular arrangement of parts which can be disassembled, for example, to remove a failed bearing and replace the bearing only. The high speeds at which the spindles operate combined with the close tolerances required in construction have prevented the use of a modular type construction heretofore.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a bearing assembly for a spindle and a spindle utilizing that bearing assembly in which the component parts are demountable so that failed parts can be replaced on an individual basis and the life of the assembly as a whole prolonged.